Molding Supra pod question

[kak8]

I`m in the progress of making a Supra pod plug and I already see some problems during the molding process.
Specially the top of the pylon. It looks like it needs some kind of "insert" to keep the fabric against the mould.
Does anyone have a solution?

Is the original Supra pod made with the the joggle gasket or wet seam?

Thanks
Adam

[Ollie]

There are a few solutions. It depends your answer.
How many fuselages will you use the molds?

Consider three sub assembly parts. One for the pod with two halves molds. Second for the pylon with two halves molds. Third for wing platform mold.

If you want to use one complex plug, you can eliminate the seams by going with lost foam process. If you want more details just ask.

[mlachow]

I just leave the top of the pod open. I do wet seams on the pods. Put the fabric on top later when you seat the wing to the top of the pod.

Make sure you have a suitable fillet at the top and bottom of the pylon so that the fabric will not have any problems going around the curve and make the top platform/bottom of the wing on the mold extra wide. Trim it down after pulling out of the mold. You want about 1.5 inch on each side so that the fabric will stay down flat and hold the fabric around the top fillet.

[kak8]

Thanks for the answers. I will leave the top open. I couldn`t find the right word before, but its the fillet I`m worried about.
I think I will use some UD carbon to reinforce the pylon but it makes it more difficult to go around the fillet/curve and here I was thinking to use something to keep the fabric against the mould - like a baloon with air og water.
Is the fillet wide enough? I don`t want to much drag :confused:

[mlachow]

I was referring to the fillet between the vertical part of the pylon and the wing platform. It looks like enough radius so that you should not have any problem with that radius. The wing platform part should taper up to the actual wing surface. When I made my 3D model and STL master, I use the actual wing as the top. The final width after trimming will be 1.5 - 2" wide with a bullet shape looking from the top. There should be the most space between the bottom of the platform and the wing around the spar area. What you could do is shape your platform bottom surface straight to a sharp edge and then glue on a airfoil curved piece on top of that to make it wider for the mold.

YOu really can't go above 4 oz cloth when doing the layup with that setup so you need multiple layers. I'd recommend a 45 layer of 2.5-3oz carbon cloth (provided you have some that is really soft) in addition to the glass or kevlar. You will probably have a hard time getting most uni tow to conform vertically. The only stuff I have that works OK is actually tows I pull out of 2.4 oz IM cloth. These are extremely thin tows that are almost 1" wide. It's a really unique cloth but you probably can't get it anywhere since I bought the last that CST had. Best bet might be the 2.5-3 oz carbon 1k cloth if you want some vertically there. Use S-glass if you have it. 6522 conforms pretty well.